


Stormchasers

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eremin - Freeform, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Reibert - Freeform, erearu - Freeform, jeanmarco, levihan - Freeform, meteorologist au, springles - Freeform, stormchasers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-05 09:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1814353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Join a dream team of dorky meteorologists, senior tornado chasers, a journalist, a documentary camera crew, and their personal assistants as they head off on a journey directly into the eye of the storm while making all their childhood aspirations come true.</p><p>Frustrating Eremin fluff along with Levi being Levi and Hanji being Hanji.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The wind whistled shrilly around the window frame and rattled the shutters of the small house. Eren Jäger stood on his bed and pressed his face against the glass of his bedroom window pane, his eyes widening excitedly as he watched a flurry of leaves swish from the branches of maple trees lining the neighborhood street. The sky was dark with gray storm clouds, despite it being relatively early in the afternoon. The window glass fogged up as Eren breathed onto the glass in anticipation.

“Armin, how close is it?” he asked, his voice muffled as he talked into the window. The smaller blond boy behind him was sitting at a desktop computer with his eyes fixated on the screen, which showed a weather map of a swirling mass of yellow green that steadily approached the town of Shiganshina. 

Armin zoomed in on the map. 

“It should be about fifteen minutes before we’re in the yellow! Keep watching for lightning. Has it started raining yet?” He asked, his eyes flashing excitedly as he turned to Eren. 

“A little bit. Should we go outside now? That way we’ll get a better view of the lightning,” Eren said, hopping off his bed and standing next to Armin, jumping up and down slightly in excitement. 

“We have to make sure your mom doesn’t see, she’ll freak out again,” Armin said, trying not to laugh at Eren’s ridiculous excitement. 

“Or Mikasa, she’ll tell on us,” Eren whispered, opening the door of his bedroom and looking around cautiously. Armin peeked over his shoulder. 

Upon seeing that the coast was clear, Eren slipped out the door and tread quietly on the carpet. Armin followed him quickly, putting his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. 

“Armin! Stop laughing! This is serious,” Eren turned to the boy in amused frustration. Armin was intensely struggling with repressed laughter. 

“I can’t help it! Sneaking around isn’t my strong point,” he said in a hoarse whisper before letting out a rather strangled laugh. 

“What are you two doing?” inquired a rather flat voice from behind Eren. Eren spun around to see Mikasa standing directly behind him, and promptly tripped over his own feet in surprise, falling over and dragging Armin (still laughing uncontrollably) down with him. 

“We’re investigating storms! What are you doing, ‘kasa?” Eren protested, struggling to get up. 

“Making sure you and Armin don’t get yourselves killed. It’s a pretty big thunderstorm coming,” she said dryly, playing with the frayed edges of the scarf she wore even indoors. 

“We know, that’s why we’re going outside!” Eren shouted triumphantly, tugging Armin up by the arm. 

“To see big lightning,” Armin added, his eyes lighting up. 

“I’m coming with you,” Mikasa announced, turning sharply and padding down the stairs softly. Eren let out a small noise of frustration. 

“I can take care of myself you know!” he hissed. 

“No, you really can’t, Eren,” Armin mused thoughtfully, much to Eren’s chagrin. 

“He’s right, you know,” Mikasa said with the slightest hint of a chuckle in her voice as Eren groaned in frustration. 

Armin laughed again at the despairing look on Eren’s face, then promptly quieted when Eren and Mikasa both turned around to shush him. 

Mikasa opened the front door, letting in an enormous gust of wind that blew in a few stray leaves. 

“Get out there, dorks,” she said, smiling slightly as Eren ran out the door, shouting eagerly for Armin to follow him. Mikasa shut the door quietly and stood on the porch to observe her two charges. She was of sounder mind than Eren and Armin, and was disinclined to get herself wet unless it was necessary. 

Eren promptly laid down on the front lawn and stared, wide-eyed at the sky as raindrops splattered around him, gradually gaining momentum. Armin sat down next to him on the wet lawn and stared up at the sky. 

“You’d better not have anything metal on you,” 

“There should be lightning soon,” Armin said, fidgeting slightly as he laid down and observed the endless expanse of dark gray sky. He yelped and blinked spastically as a raindrop hit the corner of his eye. 

“Dork,” Eren said, turned and grinned at the blond. Armin flushed slightly at the proximity of their faces and smiled back. They were interrupted by a bright flash above them, and Eren sat up hurriedly. 

“One,” he said, turning to Armin, who followed suite. 

“Two,” Armin responded. 

“Three.”

“Four.” 

“Five.”

“Si--” 

With that, a loud crack echoed through the sky and Eren and Armin cheered victoriously. 

“Only six miles away! We might see the next one hit the ground soon!” Eren said, shaking Armin by the shoulders as Armin laughed at Eren’s ridiculous enthusiasm. 

“Get back in the house right now, Eren Jäger!” A loud voice with a heavy amount of anger shouted from the front door. 

“But mom! It was just getting good!” Eren protested, rolling over and getting up. 

“EREN!” 

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Eren mumbled. Armin laughed at his friend’s grumbly nature. He stood up and brushed the bits of wet grass off the back of Eren’s shirt and followed him indoors. 

“Thanks a lot, Mikasa,” Eren grumbled at his sister. 

“You knew she was going to find out anyway,” Mikasa shrugged rather indifferently and pulled a leaf off Eren’s head and tossed it onto the ground. 

“Come on, we can go make hot chocolate,” Armin suggested, and Eren brightened immediately. 

“All right. Just promise me one thing, okay Armin?” 

“What?” Armin smiled. 

“Once we’re older...like after high school and college and all that junk...let’s get a van and just drive around looking at the sky. Can people get paid for that? Can we do that for a living? We should totally do that,” Eren grinned wildly and Armin laughed at the excitement in his eyes. 

“All right. I think people do get paid for that. Meteorologists,” Armin chuckled and rummaged through Eren’s kitchen cabinets and located a bag of marshmallows. 

“What? What do meteors have to do with this?” 

The look of genuine confusion on Eren’s face made Armin crack up again. 

“It’s the term for people who study weather.” 

“Why meteors, though?” Eren said, still with a look of utter perplexity. 

“Because you’re a dork, that’s why,” Mikasa said from the corner of the kitchen, where she was heating up a large quantity of cocoa powder and milk in a pot. 

“Hey! I am not...” Eren protested, turning around. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of chocolate syrup, which he proceeded to empty into the pot. 

“Eren stop that, you’re going to get diabetes,” Mikasa said, shooting her hand out and grabbing the bottle from her brother. 

Eren rolled his eyes overdramatically and turned to Armin, who was very nearly elbow-deep in the bag of marshmallows. 

“Give me some of those.”

“No, you’re going to get hyper,” Armin said, holding the bag over his head. Eren proceeded to tickle him until he was wheezing from laughter. The two of them flopped onto the floor and Eren sighed in contentment. 

“Life is good, isn’t it?” he said happily. 

“Yeah...yeah it is,” Armin smiled. 

“Come get your cocoa, dorks,” Mikasa said, walking over and promptly kicking Eren in the shin. 

 

*************************

“How are we doing? Coming up close?” Erwin Smith asked as he monitored the GPS mounted on the dashboard of the RV. 

“We’re in the clear for another seven minutes if we keep heading in this direction. Is the camera crew ready?” the driver, a young, dark skinned woman with a smattering of freckles on her nose replied as she pushed down on the gas pedal. 

“Yes, we have our gear and we’re ready for action,” an equally freckled young man stated, fumbling with the straps securing a tripod to his back. 

“Arlert, confirmation that we’re still in the clear?” Smith turned to look at Armin, who was diligently examining the data streaming from the anemometer and camera mounted on the RV’s roof. 

“Still clear, but tornado velocity is increasing rapidly, so we need to get a move on, sir,” he said, poking the back of Eren’s head with his pen. “Eren, wake up so you can help me write this stuff down.”

“I was sleeping…” Eren mumbled as he sat up and blinked blearily at his surroundings, then shook his head rapidly and began to record the data Armin was producing as he continued estimating wind speeds. 

“It’s not that early, come on. This is our first time doing actual field work!” Armin smiled brightly as he tucked a strand of hair behind his ear and clicked on the weather map, where a swirling circle of orange was shown not too far ahead of their RV’s location. 

It was barely at the crack of dawn, and yet for the most part, everyone present was alert, save for Eren. Here they were, driving through a windstorm with speeds of over eighty miles per hour, with around fifteen people crammed into a vehicle that was nearly too large to be street legal, and for the most part, no one could have been happier. 

Mikasa Ackerman sat on a dilapidated RV sofa on the side of the room, writing in her customary journalist’s notebook. She was incredibly lucky that she had been able to convince her editor to let her write a piece on storm chasing at the same time Eren and Armin were on their first professional field expedition. 

 

"Day One: They’re all grown up, but they’re still the same dorks they’ve always been. "

 

She smiled and closed the book, then stared out the window and into the oncoming storm.


	2. Chapter Two

The howling and screeching of the wind became progressively louder as the crew approached, and Armin yelped as he felt Eren’s hand clench down on his arm in anticipation. He batted Eren’s arm away and focused in on the map again. They were getting close. Not quite so close that they were in any immediate danger, but they would have to pick up the pace.

 

“Ymir, hit the gas and veer farther south. If I’m right, the storm is going to start losing momentum in ten minutes and we need to make sure the camera crew gets there before the tornado starts slowing down,” Armin instructed as he checked the new data streaming from the anemometer. The freckled girl in the driver’s seat let out a hoot of acknowledgement, and the RV lurched forward, causing Armin to smash his knee hard onto the table leg and Eren to fall off his seat entirely and unleash a flurry of creative expletives as Mikasa struggled to muffle her laughter from the other side of the vehicle.

 

It seemed that Eren was perhaps not the one who had suffered the worst damage from the sharp increase in speed as the pantry door swung open due to the momentum and two individuals fell out.

 

Erwin, who was still observing the GPS, turned around sharply and narrowed his eyes as Connie Springer and Sasha Blouse struggled to their feet.

 

“You both know full well that this is no time for...activities such as that,” he said sternly.

 

“Sir, we weren’t doing anything like that--” Sasha protested.

 

“She’s right, we were just--” Connie added, fumbling around on the floor to triumphantly locate a container of Pringles.

 

“You were eating…” Erwin rubbed the temple of his head in exasperation. “That’s even worse, because if he--”

 

“What are you brats doing out here?” a dry voice echoed through the RV. Despite the screeching of the wind and the speed of the vehicle, everyone present immediately fell still and silent.

 

“You do realize,” the voice continued, and a rather short man with sharp, discontented eyes stepped into view from the room at the back of the RV. “...That this entire endeavor happens to be on a fixed budget. This includes food. And I’m sure you must also realize that I just swept the floor before we left this morning.”

 

Armin’s eyes widened and he tugged on the back of Eren’s shirt.

 

“Get up and act like you’re working,” he whispered hoarsely. Eren obediently sat down next to Armin and began scribbling on a sheet of notebook paper.

 

“Consequently, I will have to put you on cleaning duty once we pull over, which should be in…” the man consulted his watch. “Three minutes. I want this entire thing swept out again and the floor mopped, but don’t use too much soap or it’ll leave streaks and I also want you to use Febreeze. Not the lavender scented shit, I want it to smell like linen.”

 

With that, Connie and Sasha shot glances at each other full of mixed fear and exasperation, then began rummaging around for the cleaning supplies.

 

“Was that accurate, Arlert? Three minutes until we stop?” the man turned to Armin, who cringed slightly and checked the laptop again.

 

“T-two minutes, Levi. We could probably pull over now and get some better shots, but we’d be in a high-risk wind zone,” Armin said nervously.

 

“We’ll pull over now. And tell your boyfriend that drawing lightning bolts in the corner of notebook paper, which is also rationed and budgeted if I may add, does not constitute work,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

 

“He’s not...my boyfriend…” Armin trailed off slightly as Eren, apparently unfazed by Levi’s warning, continued scribbling. He silently wished Levi had been right.

 

“Everyone out!” Ymir shouted from the driver’s seat as she slammed on the brakes, causing everyone to lurch forward once again. “Kirschtein, Bodt, you’re out first so you can set up your gear, then we need Arlert and Jäger to monitor the wind speeds.”

 

The camera crew obediently hopped out the door of the RV, with Jean Kirschtein fumbling with his camera, as the shutter seemed to be stuck. Armin and Eren followed out the door, with Armin clutching his laptop and furiously clicking the refresh button, as the internet connection seemed to be shorting out.

 

“Armin, just put that down for a second and look at that,” Eren said, laughing and pulling the computer from Armin’s hands.

 

Right in front of them, not too much more than one hundred meters away, an enormous gray vortex was swirling across the landscape. Jean was out some distance closer than the rest of the crew, violently snapping pictures and cursing as the wind continued to blow his tripod over, while Marco was stationed further back and was attempting to videotape the storm. Lightning cracked above them, the extent of time between the flash and the noise barely two seconds.

  
  


“It’s beautiful,” Armin said, his eyes widening. It really was, to him. The sky was the same dark, endless gray it had been that day he and Eren had made the promise that yes, they would be looking up at the sky for the rest of their lives. He felt something clench in his throat, and he realized with some surprise that he was about to cry. He touched his cheek and noted with some surprise that it was wet, but he was uncertain whether this had been caused by the flurry of raindrops or his own emotions.

 

He jumped slightly as he felt a hand grasp his own. He turned, and there was Eren, holding his hand as the wind whipped their hair around their faces and he couldn’t help smiling. Somehow, nothing about that moment could have been more perfect.

 

******************

 

When the storm began to pick up speed again, Levi stuck his head out the door of the RV and yelled for them to “get your asses back in here, so help me god”, and with some degree of reluctance, Eren let go of Armin’s hand and the two walked back into the vehicle. Sasha and Connie seemed to have been let off their duties, as Levi was wearing elbow length rubber gloves and scrubbing the tabletops while cursing violently about the lack of regard for cleanliness.

 

Mikasa was still sitting on the sofa, and she was writing methodically in her notebook. Eren wasn’t entirely certain what she was doing, but he could swear she was smiling even though her scarf was pulled up over her nose, as her eyes seemed to have a certain glimmer to them.

 

“Is everyone in? Alright. Head southeast, Ymir,” Erwin instructed, consulting their itinerary.

 

“How far southeast would that be?” Ymir asked dryly, turning around.

 

“Florida. And fast, so we can get away from the hazard zone.”

 

“I’m not driving all the way to Florida, god Erwin we’re in goddamn Kansas. Go wake up Krista once we get to Arkansas, she can drive the rest of the way,” Ymir muttered as she slammed on the gas and with some difficulty, turning the RV around and sped off.

 

“We’re going to Florida?” Eren asked with mild surprise. He hadn’t recalled reading about this segment of the trip on his copy of the itinerary, but then again he hadn’t really paid attention.

 

“Yes, there’s data to suggest that with the atmospheric pressure being what it is down there now, there may be a tropical storm within the week,” Armin responded, his eyes lighting up in excitement as he brushed rain-soaked strands of hair away from his face. “I’ve always wanted to see an ocean storm.”

 

“You’re cute when you’re excited about stuff you love,” Eren said, surprising himself as the words tumbled out of his mouth. Armin flushed a deep shade of pink in response. The two were silent for what seemed like an eternity, and unless it was Eren’s imagination, Armin seemed to be closing the distance between the two of them until...

 

“Brats, lift your feet up,” Levi interrupted, sharply kicking Eren in the shin. Eren yelped in response, and Levi lowered himself onto all fours and proceeded to scrub the floor underneath the table with all the avid ferocity of a janitor with a pay raise. Armin turned away from Eren and cleared his throat, then proceeded to boot up his laptop again and check the internet connection.

 

“See, because right now there’s a warm front moving in from the east coast…” Armin continued, and Eren honestly wasn’t listening to the words. He was far too focused on memorizing the way Armin’s hair fell around his face.

 

From the sofa, Mikasa scribbled more notes.

  
“Day One, Continued: They are gradually becoming self-aware. Must remember to distract Levi with Tide Ultra to prevent him from further interfering. Pringles are running low.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly can't believe I'm still writing this but I love it so much someone help me. Today was the day I decided it's in the middle and bottomy right of the US because apparently they have a lot of cool weather there. 
> 
> I hope you guys liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of dorks do some dorky things and your author sobs profusely.

The drive from Kansas to Arkansas was, Eren Jäger thought, one of the most simultaneously boring and terrifying experiences of his life. He was jostled around rather uncomfortably by Ymir's driving techniques, which were less than stellar to begin with, but when combined with a group of rowdy meteorologists yelling varying directions and Levi insisting that he clean the windshield, he was altogether lucky that he survived. When the sun began to set, and Erwin had located their within budget (that is, shoddy) motel on the GPS, Armin gradually started to doze off with his head on Eren's shoulder.

 

Eren noticed this, and couldn't help smiling to himself. He gingerly, so as not to wake the blond, reached over and closed Armin's laptop, then leaned back slightly. Armin shifted a bit in his seat as Ymir unceremoniously stopped the RV.

 

“Out! Make sure you get everything now because I will not be unlocking this later, is that clear?” Ymir stated before gently nudging Krista’s shoulder. The smaller blonde girl had been dozing off slightly, but she opened her eyes blearily at the touch and yawned.

 

“We’re here already?” she asked, squinting slightly.

 

“Yep, come on sleeping beauty,” Ymir said, hoisting Krista up from under her arms and hopping out of the RV with her. The rest of the crew gradually filed out, with Sasha struggling to shove a bag of potato chips into the front of Connie’s hoodie before she casually tossed them aside as Levi sidled up next to her and narrowed his eyes.

 

Eren glanced down at Armin, who was still asleep and had drooled on his shoulder slightly. Eren wasn’t particularly bothered by this, he found it slightly endearing. He was more concerned with how he was going to get the two of them into the motel without disturbing Armin. He could, of course, simply shake Armin awake and they could walk out of the vehicle like normal human beings, but a part of him didn’t want to disturb the peaceful expression on the blond’s face. He glanced around to ensure that everyone had left before he carefully reached an arm under Armin’s knees and another around his back before lifting him up.

 

Armin was slightly heavier than he had expected, so it was a bit of a struggle, but Eren managed to carry him out the door of the RV, despite stumbling a bit. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, and as he was standing by the side of the vehicle, Hanji Zoë, the resident hurricane specialist, hopped out, causing Eren to jump slightly in surprise.

 

Hanji looked him over, her eyes lingering on Armin. She smirked.

 

“Not your boyfriend my ass,” she laughed and turned away to walk up to the motel lobby.

 

Armin stirred slightly in Eren’s arms as Eren frantically switched facial expressions while he struggled to think of something to counter Hanji’s statement but came up short. He didn’t like Armin in that way. Of course he didn’t. That would be ridiculous, and weird, and--

 

Armin’s eyes slowly cracked open.

 

Oh.

 

Eren realized he was staring at Armin, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn away, because Armin was so completely perfect. He looked almost angelic, the way his hair draped over his face.

 

“Eren, why are you holding me?” Armin mumbled sleepily, blinking in confusion.

 

“I--I just...you fell asleep,” Eren struggled. He could feel his cheeks turning several shades of red as he looked away from Armin’s face.

 

“S’okay, you could’ve just woken me up, I can take care of myself, you know,” Armin said, smiling slightly. Eren hurriedly set him down, partially relieved that he no longer had to act as though Armin was weightless, and partially disappointed that Armin's warmth was parting from his chest.

 

"You're kind of pretty when you're sleeping, you know," Eren mumbled awkwardly as Armin brushed himself off.

 

"I'm not pretty..." Armin muttered, attempting to sound bitter, but failing to stop the slight smile at the corner of his mouth. "I'd like to think I'm a little more tough then you give me credit for."

 

"You can be tough and pretty," Eren shrugged as the two made their way up to the motel lobby's doors.

 

An awkward silence fell over the pair as they walked inside, only to see the other ten members of their crew staring at them.

 

"Well, you brats are a little late..." Levi stated dryly. "Although I suppose it's a bit hard to walk quickly when you've got your hands all over each other's asses."

 

"We weren't doing anything like--" Eren protested before Levi cut him off.

 

"You and Arlert are sharing a room, that way reasonable people like us won't be disturbed," he said, unceremoniously tossing a room key at Eren, who flinched and flushed a deep shade of red. Armin, still next to him, was rather pink.

 

“Why do they just assume we’re together…?” Armin whispered, turning to Eren with a slightly panicked expression on his face.

 

“Probably just because of something stupid…” Eren muttered, struggling to make the blush vanish from his face.

 

“Like how you just tried to carry me into a crummy motel while I was asleep?” Armin responded, flushing again.

 

“Sorry about that...I know you hate it when I do stuff like that,” Eren said apologetically, running his hands over the top of his head.

 

Armin sighed.

 

“It’s not exactly that, it’s just that...I don’t like to feel weak. I don’t want to feel like I need to be carried, you know?” he said as they turned to locate Room 15, as their room key had directed them to. “I feel like I don’t exactly have much to offer on this trip…I’m kind of useless.”

 

“Are you crazy?” Eren demanded, grasping Armin by the shoulders. “If anyone’s useless here, it’s definitely me. You’re the one who does all the charts and numbers, I mean half the time I don’t know what you’re talking about when you rattle off all that stuff about atmospheric pressure and wind speeds. I just like looking at lightning and...twirly wind. You’re probably the most valuable person we’ve got here.”

 

Armin smiled slightly in response.

 

“You know, Eren, you really ought to study more, you’re not going for a degree in meteorology so you can look at twirly wind…”

 

“No, actually I am,” Eren shrugged and let go of Armin’s shoulders. “I mostly just want to look at the sky. If I learn more about it, that’s just a bonus. Anyway, you need to get it in your head that we need you around here. I need you. You keep me from doing dumb shit like blowing on the anemometer when I check it, and you need to let me know when you can sense Levi coming so I can pretend to be busy…” Eren said, gesturing emphatically.

 

“Alright...I guess I’ll buy that for now. You really can’t take care of yourself, can you?” Armin smiled. Eren shook his head insistently.

 

“No, I’m completely irresponsible and I’m lucky I have you and Mikasa to guide me,” he said, grinning.

 

Armin laughed and opened the motel room door.

 

From two rooms down, standing unnoticed by the two boys, Mikasa was once again writing in her notebook.

  
“Day One, Completed: They have begun to reassure one another in a manner that can only be described as caring. Bets have been placed that by Florida they will be married.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love writing this and I keep meaning to write it more often, but I'm exceptionally lazy and sort of busy, so that's why it's been a bit of a wait. With any luck I'll be able to work on my other various fanfics too...I've fallen very behind. 
> 
> Anyway, I love that people are reading this and I love that so far you seem to be liking it! Thank you everybody!


	4. Have I been titling these? I don't remember. I should. This shall be called "Goddamn Frikkin Nerds"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have I been summarizing chapters? Too much work. Not that long of a chapter anyway. Nerds being nerds.

The motel room was still dark when a sleeping Armin rolled over onto Eren and began snoring softly. Eren jumped slightly at the sudden and uncomfortable weight on his chest, and sighed in mild annoyance. It wasn’t that he minded sleeping in the same bed as Armin (although he did mind this particular bed, what with it being rather small and of an undeniably cheap motel quality), it was simply annoying to wake up in the middle of the night to find drool on his shoulder. He attempted to silently and gingerly move out from underneath Armin and push him back onto his own side. 

Armin fidgeted slightly and mumbled in his sleep, but did not wake up. Eren sighed in relief and adjusted the sheets in an attempt to get comfortable again. He had just closed his eyes when Armin rolled over onto him again, this time pulling him into some sort of awkward half-asleep embrace. Eren frowned. Apparently the blond was hell-bent on ensuring that he didn’t get any sleep. Armin hugged him more tightly and Eren winced slightly. It was quite a problem to begin with, what with the uncomfortable positioning, but now, as he glanced down at Armin, he was almost tempted to kiss him, or at the very least wrap his arms around him in turn. 

He was jolted sharply from his tired daydreaming (or an awake sort of night-dreaming, as the context would have it) by Armin’s voice. Armin had begun to mumble again, this time rather more audibly. Eren struggled to make out what he was saying. 

“Eren…” Armin grumbled sleepily. “You...I know that you know…” 

Eren frowned. He had been rather hoping to catch something of interest, but Armin seemed to be muttering nonsense. 

“You know...I love you, you know that…” Armin continued, his voice blearily trailing off. 

Eren glanced down in surprise. He was pretty sure he’d misheard something. There was no way that---

“Love you, Eren…” Armin sighed, hugging Eren more tightly. Eren froze. Once, he could write it off as a slip of the tongue. But a second time...and with his name...that was different. Very different. He pulled his arm out from Armin’s embrace with some difficulty and gingerly touched the blond’s head and tried to push himself away just a bit. Armin’s eyes opened suddenly and it seemed to take him a few seconds to realize what he was doing before he turned three different shades of pink and jumped back so suddenly that he fell off the bed and let out a shrill yelping noise. Eren scrambled off the bed after him to find Armin curled up in a small ball of remorse on the floor. 

“I’m sorry,” Armin whispered quietly, tears starting to form at the corners of his eyes. “I’m really, really sorry, Eren, it was just a dream, I didn’t...I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry…” 

“Armin!” Eren interrupted, simply wanting to make him stop talking for just a moment. 

Armin responded by closing his mouth promptly. The tears in his eyes were beginning to well up and run down his cheeks. 

“Shit, Armin, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry, I just--” Eren struggled to form a coherent sentence. He felt a lump in his throat and realized that he was starting to cry as well. “Shit! Armin you don’t have to cry, I love you too, I just didn’t know and--”

“I didn’t know either,” Armin sobbed out. “I thought you were uncomfortable and--”

“I was, but it was because your arm was digging into my stomach and you were drooling on my shoulder, not because you love me because I love you too and I didn’t know that you did too--” Eren stammered, his cheeks wet from tears. 

“Of course I do, how could I not?” Armin cried, blowing his nose on the sheets that had fallen off the floor with him. “You’re a complete dork and you’re gorgeous.”

“So are you!” Eren protested rather loudly and hugged Armin tightly, tears still falling from his eyes. 

“This wasn’t how I wanted it to go,” Armin sobbed. “I wanted to tell you in the rain or something, or somewhere special, not on the floor of a crappy motel in my underwear.” 

“Look, this isn’t what I wanted either,” Eren said, coughing on tears. “God, I’m so sorry, Armin, I didn’t mean to--”

“You didn’t! It was my fault, I--”

At that moment their tears were interrupted by a harsh knock on the door. 

“I don’t know what you’re doing in here, nor do I want to know, but if you little shits don’t shut up right now, then I will personally kick down this door and beat you within an inch of your lives, is that clear?” Levi growled from the hall. Eren and Armin were not allowed time to respond before they heard him stomp back off to his room. 

“I love you, Armin,” Eren whispered, hugging him close. 

“I love you too, Eren,” Armin responded quietly. 

Eren leaned in slightly closer to Armin’s face, with something in mind but not quite sure how to follow through with it. He pushed his face closer rather awkwardly and attempted to kiss Armin, but instead bumped noses with him. Armin tilted his head slightly and their lips met briefly. 

“That’s...interesting,” Armin said quietly. “I mean, I’d heard that it makes your heart rate speed up quite a bit, but the actual sensation isn’t at all as I’d expected, it’s rather soft, isn’t it? And your face has gone all red…”

“Armin, stop over analyzing this,” Eren smiled and leaned in to kiss him again. 

The two stayed like that, wrapped around one another on the floor. They eventually fell asleep again, and were awoken only by more pounding on the door, this time coming from Mikasa. She was all too satisfied by the recent developments, and took the brief amount of time before they all piled back into the RV to make several notes. 

 

“Day Two: It’s happened.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the shortest, dorkiest thing I've ever written in my life. I'll leave it here and go cry-laugh in a corner. I'm so sorry.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, they make it to Florida and realize they don't have any doughnuts. Nerds.

The next two days consisted of little but driving across the expanse of hot countryside. There were a few minor scuffles when Connie and Sasha were sent out to a close by grocery to purchase the weekly groceries. They returned with three loaves of French bread and an enormous quantity of Entenmann's doughnuts. Armin and Eren took shelter under the side table of the RV while Levi unleashed his rage upon Connie and Sasha before sending Hanji out instead. 

Hanji managed to carry out the primary objectives of the assignment satisfactorily, save for purchasing, along with all of the items that had been on the list, a jar of what appeared to be pickled fish eyes. “For science,” she had proclaimed when inquired about it. Levi shrugged this off and they returned to the road. 

Ymir announced as the sun was beginning to set that they were approximately half an hour out from their final destination. 

“If we’re lucky, we should be there before you idiots start getting hungry,” she remarked as she cut a turn so harshly that it sent half the camera gear crashing to the floor. Jean cursed loudly as he clambered around and struggled to pick up the equipment. 

Armin glanced up from his laptop. 

“Where exactly are we? I thought we were going to stop at the next motel, but we passed that last exit…” he asked. Glancing around, it appeared that they were purposefully veering away from their previously confirmed destination. 

“We’re getting close to North Redington Beach, actually,” a voice informed him from behind. Armin turned around to see Erwin standing behind him. 

“I thought we were going to stop back there?” Eren asked, wrinkling his eyebrows in mild confusion. 

“We’ve had a small change in plans. Hanji thought it would be nice if we stayed beachfront, so we made some alterations to the itinerary so we can actually afford a beachfront motel. We’ve had to cut off everything after Florida to make it work, but it’s just as well. There’s a high chance of tropical storms this week so we’ll still be able to get a lot of data,” Erwin shrugged. “I suppose it’s all fine as long as we can still get work done. Levi disagrees of course, but that was to be expected. He can be a bit short-tempered…” 

“Did you honestly just go there, Erwin you piece of shit?” Levi asked dryly from the back of the RV. Erwin responded with a chuckle. 

Armin stifled a laugh by burying his face in Eren’s shoulder. 

“So we’re actually going to go to the beach,” Eren said quietly, excitement evident in his voice. 

“What do you think it’ll look like?” Armin asked, smiling widely. “Do you think it’ll be...bigger than it looks in pictures? Will the water be cold? Do you think we’ll see crabs or anything?” 

“I don’t know...what do you think it’ll look like when the storm comes? How big do waves actually get?” Eren pondered. He sat up straight and glanced around. “Do we still have doughnuts? Levi didn’t make Sasha return all of them, did he?” He stood up and wandered over to the cupboard. 

“Don’t eat too much sugar, you’ll get hyperactive,” Armin warned as he sighed contentedly and closed his laptop. He glanced over to Eren’s, which was open on the desk. He was mildly curious, as it didn’t seem to be on the weather tracking website or anything relating to data collection. He glanced over his shoulder at Eren, who was rifling through the cupboard for some variety of Entenmann’s product. Armin pulled the laptop in front of him and began scrolling. It appeared to be some variety of blogging website.

“Hey, what is this exactly?” Armin asked. It looked as though Eren was trying to create some form of documentation of their travels. 

“Oh...um…” Eren turned away from the cupboard and grinned sheepishly. “It’s a sort of thing I made. I thought if I made a blog about what we do, then maybe we can get more funding for our next trip. I haven’t really figured it out yet, and it looks kinda shitty, but it’s something.” 

“That’s a pretty good idea, actually...are you going to put pictures on here?” Armin asked, scrolling through the page’s html code. 

“I’m planning on it, yeah...hopefully it’ll work and it won’t just end up as a bunch of pictures of us screwing around with stuff,” Eren shrugged and closed the cupboard door, his attempt to find pastries fruitless. 

“We’re getting pretty close to the motel now, so I’m going to pull over. We’re within walking distance and I know some of you want to get out and look at the water, although I have no idea why. Now, I’m going to go in the back and make out with Krista, so I’d recommend that you all clear out,” Ymir said dryly. In less than a minute, everyone quickly filed out. 

Armin hopped out of the RV after Eren and looked out over the water. The sun was setting, flooding orange and red over the mass of clear blue. He could feel his heart beating in his chest as Eren grasped his hand and squeezed. The two of them ran off the pavement and onto the sand, all of their inhibitions gone, able to sense nothing but each other and the enormous clear expanse of water, with its calm, barely rolling waves. 

“It’s...big. Bigger than I thought it would be,” Eren said quietly as they stood close to the water. 

“Such a poet,” Armin laughed. “But it is...it’s beautiful, isn’t it?” 

“Can I say something?” Eren asked, grinning widely. 

“Sure…” Armin replied somewhat apprehensively. 

“It’s not as beautiful as you,” he said, pulling Armin into an embrace. 

“You’re being pretty cheesy today…” Armin smiled. “I could get used to it, though.” 

And so they stood, with the water calmly lapping at their feet, oblivious to everyone else around them, the majority of which were splashing loudly in the water and shrieking wildly. A cheer went up from the onlookers as Hanji tackled Levi into the water, drenching him. From a rather safer, drier place farther up the shore, Mikasa was sitting and watching, the faintest hint of a smile on her face. Somehow it seemed as though in this case, she really didn’t need to make more notes. This was something that would explain itself. It was the sort of memory that she didn’t really think required jotting down. She knew none of them would forget it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh* I really like this AU. I’m so glad I’m writing it, to be honest. I have too many Eremin AUs going on right now but I can’t bring myself to neglect any of them. Bye the way, readers, Eren’s blog is something I actually ended up making, and you can find it at official-storm-recon-crew.tumblr.com where I plan to update it every now and then with comments from the crew members and illustrations. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is what I'm going to call "That Meteorologist Eremin AU You Never Knew You Needed". A friend and I were discussing this idea one morning and it essentially snowballed into me writing this chapter, which I'm going to leave here for your reading pleasure! 
> 
> Complete inspiration credits for this belong to godtier1.tumblr.com


End file.
